For now, I can only write intermittently because I am studying human physiology! It is fascinating - did you know that your heart pumps a gallon (which is approximately equal to your entire blood volume) of blood in just one minute???? Things going on in your brain and lungs have a huge impact on how quickly or slowly your heart is working, so take care and treat the little guy right - He's working about as hard as he can ;)

"Anger isn't righteous - it's mistaken." - Waylon Lewis

So concise and well-said! Thank you Dr. Frank Lipman!

■More Real Food, Less Food-like Substances


■More Fruit and Vegetables, Less Sugar, Gluten and Dairy

■More Plant Foods, Less Animal products■More Organic, Less Chemicals

■More Clean Products, Less Toxic Products

■More Chewing, Less Eating

■More Water, Less Alcohol

■More Walking, Less Driving

■More Exercising, Less Sitting at the Computer

■More Music, Less Noise

■More Recycling, Less Waste

■More Outdoors, Less Indoors

■More Meditation, Less Worry

■More Slow, Less Hurry

■More Smiles, Less Anger

■More Love, Less Hatred

■More Fun, Less Serious

■More Letting Go, Less Holding On

■More Being, Less Doing

■More Presence, Less Absence

■More Generosity, Less Greed

■More Forgiving, Less Blaming

■More Ubuntu, Less Me

■More Inclusion, Less Exclusion■More Health Care, Less Disease Care

Cinnamon is one of my favorite smells and now I know why! It is believed that it helps with brain function, but it also helps regulate your blood sugar. It kick starts the cells that produce insulin, which goes out and takes care of the glucose in your blood, and then your body has to use fat cells instead of the free carbohydrates! Bad ass. You can sprinkle cinnamon on almost every fruit - bananas are my favorite, but a spicy mango sounds pretty exotic too! Mix it with nuts, coffee, make cinnamon toast, add it to a salad. Try adding it to anything, maybe you'll really like it (who would have thought bacon and peanut butter go together - but I've had this sandwich at a restaurant!)

Hormones! Usually we think of these guys as the thing that makes people act differently than they should... but in reality they are the ones that keep our body in balance! They respond to stimuli, which can either be from the brain wanting something done, changing levels of nutrients in the blood, or from other hormones who need help.

The first one I've been reading about is Growth Hormone, which has the biggest roll during childhood and adolescence. It is produced in the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland in the middle of your head, and is then released to other cells in the body through the bloodstream. It targets bones and muscles to aid in growth, although it does contribute to growth in all organs aside from the brain. To help your tissue grow, growth hormone stops the liver from taking up glucose, or sugar, and mobilizes your fatty acids (which is indeed the same as your squishy, pinchable fat!).

For children, overproduction of growth hormone leads to longer long bones - arms and legs. If there is too much growth hormone past the point of the child growing taller, the hands, feet, and facial bones can thicken and become enlarged. This is called acromegaly. Too much growth hormone in adults does not present much of a problem. Too little growth hormone in adults can result in decreased muscle mass and energy, but overall it is not a huge inconvenience, as synthetic growth hormone is available as a supplement. In children it is important to catch a growth hormone deficiency early, so that growth can continue on schedule. If not caught and supplemented, it can result in dwarfism and delayed sexual maturation.

Growth hormone can be taken as a metabolic supplement for people looking to get leaner and stronger, particularly athletes and older people. However, this is definitely not recommended by your neighborhood physician or any other doctor. Putting synthetic things in your body is bad news. Technically this hormone is legal to take, but there have been no clinical trials approved by the FDA that prove or disprove its safety. There are also increased risks of diabetes, since growth hormone elevates your blood sugars.

One last thing to know is that hormones are triggered primarily by what you put in your body and what goes on in your head. Then they travel through the blood stream until they reach your DNA, where they say hello and make a little change so that your body starts producing proteins that it wasn't producing before. Of course this is mostly a good thing! But if you are putting bad stuff in your body or thinking bad things all the time, your body is going to produce wonky hormones and thus wonky proteins and that's what will make you feel bad. And I love to feel good!

Regardless of how interested (or uninterested) others may be, I think it's important to always show off photos of you and your hobbies. Several reasons! One - they're your hobbies, so you're the expert. Your laymen friends don't really know what goes on in that world. The rewards, the work, the laughs, the skill. Whatever it is that makes it special to you, they'll see that through some photos. They just might inspire someone. What are those stats - for every 100, there's one that sticks? Who cares if the first 10 people you talked to looked bored! That one person who thinks what you do is the bees knees will come along eventually and boy oh boy will they be worth it!

I've always been afraid of growing up to be like my parents. Mostly because the world has threatened me that that will happen before I even had a chance to think about how I wanted to grow up! As simple children, my sister and I started this revolt early on by mocking our parents' choice in music - Mom is an Indigo Girls fan, and Dad is a Bob Dylan fan. I'm assuming it's obvious why school age girls don't related to Dylan's raspy voice, and as for the Indigo Girls, well, I suppose it's good worldly experience to watch throngs of women not wearing bras kiss each other before you even knew what the word lesbian meant.

Then I got older and became more indifferent - not turned off, yet not totally interested because that's Mom and Dad's thing. That's what they like. I'm a different person so I like different things. Simple logic.

Spotify has given me access to listen to whatever I want without putting any effort into it, so I wound up with an Indigo Girls song, and almost died I loved the lyrics so much! Which led me to remember that Dylan is supposed to be one of the best songwriters of all time...

Maybe Mom and Dad are on to something after all...

How long til my soul gets it right
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light

There are a lot of people in my life that I consider to be leaders. Some are officially in the role of leader, while others are just really great at connecting and inspiring. I've never really thought about what it takes to be a great leader, I just figured when the passion was there, it comes out. Maybe that's true.

One thing that acutely stood out to me was when someone I thought to be a leader let go of something because they "don't make as much money," and "it's the end of my week [shrug shoulders]." I had placed some value on that thing, and now I'm thinking maybe it's not as important as I thought? Of course it all comes down to perspective. However, now the doubt is there and sometimes it can be really hard to kick that out of your head!

Wikipedia's favorite definition of leadership says that it is "the process of social influence [read: emotional influence] in which the aid and support of others is enlisted toward the accomplishment of a common goal" (Chemers, 1997).

If you believe in something - and we all need something to believe in - then forget about the inconveniences. The moment the inconveniences become more important, you've shuffled your priorities and are no longer leading from the top. It is the leader who says out loud that the goal is stronger than the distractions.

Forgive me while I work on the design of the blog! Web design is not turning out to be my strong point!